F-bomb rant by Kari Lake could boost her ratings

For a lot of people in my business getting caught on tape saying the stuff news anchor Kari Lake of Fox 10 (KSAZ) said about Phoenix New

Times, and her bosses, along with her affiliation with a radical right-wing Twitter alternative, would cost them their jobs.

For Lake it’s probably a good career move.

Lake and her co-anchor John Hook were caught unaware on tape speaking about their station’s decision for her to remove references on her Twitter account of her participation on a right-wing social media site called Parler, fancied by radical right extremists and others kicked off Twitter for their vile, incendiary and occasionally outright loony posts.

On the video, posted by the website FTVLIVE, Hook says the station’s bosses worry about the bad press associated with Parler that might surface if the information were printed in, say, Phoenix New Times. “Jesus,” Lake says sneeringly. Adding, “F*** them. They’re 20year-old dopes. That’s a rag for selling marijuana ads.”

New Times was more than grateful for the exposure. Lake’s comments are more a badge of honor than an insult.

And it’s not the first time the news anchor has been caught making an embarrassing gaffe. She once suggested that the education #RedForEd movement was actually a front for attempting to legalize marijuana. She had to apologize for that.

While most of my brothers and sisters in the media would be painfully embarrassed to be in Lake’s position, it wouldn’t surprise me if she and her bosses decided it was a boon for her and their station. After all, they operate in a community where a sizable number of potential viewers have bought into President Donald Trump’s fantasy claim that damaging, provable, undeniable facts presented about him are not facts, but “fake news.”

I know. I hear from these individuals just about every day. I take that back. I hear from them every day.

People of that philosophical persuasion would be happy to get their “news” from someone they believed to be on their side.

And apparently, Lake is. Which means that being outed by the tape and by her participation in Parler might provide Lake with a bump in ratings, and provide additional job security. Imagine the local uproar should the station ever get rid of its “conservative” anchor.

Television news anchors used to scrupulously keep their personal opinions out of the public arena. Their credibility depended on it. I’ve heard other members of the mainstream media suggest that Lake will have to wear the F-bomb anti-New Times tape like a scarlet letter.

In a different era, maybe. These days, it might turn out to be a badge of honor.